My lad likes history he's only 7 but is currently interested in the pyramids. The wife's gran was stationed out there in the 50's and the wife wants to visit.
Is Egypt suitable for a family holiday?, we'd be looking for a bit of the culture and history, but also some time on the beach.
We've also got a 4 year old daughter and would be looking at going next year when there 8 and 5

My mummy loved it.

Try looking at a 2-centre holiday with one week on the beach at Hurghada or similar. The Pyramids & the Egyptian Museum are fantastic but not everyone wants to trek around a museum all day (& you'll need a full day to see what it has).

It's fine, but get vaccines done even if you're sticking to the "touristy" areas.

If you're planning to base yourself at a beach resort, bear in mind that Cairo is a long way from the sea – bus trips are about 6 hours each way from somewhere like Sharm. Might be a bit much for young kids, there's the option of flying (pricey) else split the holiday up to do pyramids, etc and beach separately.

if you are an experienced traveller – hippy type backpacker- then yes it is super on a budget
However Cairo and Egypt is haggle tastic , incredibly busy and overwhelming if you are not an intrepid soul and doing it independently.
Spent a few mth sthere and plan to return with my brood perhaps bit older than yours.
Possible package deal but you would cover large mileage in a short time and depends on the child really
Could do package thing as suggested but it is cheap as to do it the traveller way. Valley of Kings and Luxor much more interesting and easier family wise and more chilled [read crowded school holiday at beach v sunny bank holiday]. Dont do Nile cruise as it would bore a child [and an adult] Good train links between the two [cairo and luxor nut 12 hour journey]but the Egyptian Museum in Cairo is stunning..probably boring to a kid though
Go to Luxor IMHO no pyrmaids but more tombs/temples some serioulsy huge structures and better for kids
EDI:Sharm/Senai etc is just a tourist spot and not Egyptian in the sense you mean re History/culture could be anywhere just like a tourist resort in Spain is not really Spanish

HTH
E-mail me if you want anything specfic

Just a warning but the pyramids aren't what I was expecting!
Smack in cairo and the sphynx overlooks a KFC IIRC. We were treated to two policemen beating a man with their clubs on the way down the hill. I was quite amazed that you could just climb all over them, Cairo doesn't smell too good either. Nice to see but not somewhere I'd return.
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&q=the+sphynx&sll=29.974881,31.139674&sspn=0.013457,0.027874&ie=UTF8&t=h&split=1&rq=1&ev=zi&radius=1&hq=the+sphynx&hnear=&ll=29.975085,31.137743&spn=0.013457,0.027874&z=16

The Tourist Police/Soldiers (they seem interchangable) are corrupt as hell. Not suprising really when you realise how little they earn.
For a small bribe you can climb the Great Pyramid (I went about 50ft up & got vertigo).

The camel jockey's are dodgy. I went on one & paid X amount. Bugger took me way out into the sands & said " You have paid the camel owner, now you pay me". 😯 cue an almighty argument that only ended in a fight between him & some other jockeys that objected to him ripping off the tourists!

yes I agree the pyrmaids /sphnx and Cairo/Giza is a dump others at Memphis iirc did not go may have wrong name

The traditional view is over the sands the other view has slums as the backdrop

If you argei follow the STW rule th emost hysterical irtional prson wins the argument go mental scream shout histrionicns etc and expect it to last a long while but they are more scared of you than you are of them as you can pay a bigger bribe to the police than they can so you can do whatever you want…they know this 😉
A soldier put a gun to my head at the museum in Cairo but if he had shot me he would have been killed as well and I knew this ot was n amusing argument /stand off!

We went for a week do nothing by the pool in one of the best hotels in Sharm, and I wouldnt go back there again if you paid me! Flight too long, horrible dirty place, people were weird and very suspicious looking all the time, hotel staff very false and totally oblivious to any basic hygeine standards. Both got ill, despite avoiding anything with the possibility of dodginess! Couldnt say anything good about it at all. Never ever again

I was there 10 years ago and you could climb where you wanted.
Alas, I had a similar experience with the camel jockeys 😳
Stay well away from those, or ensure you reach a price first and BE FIRM. Those policesoldiers will beat the jockeys badly if they get wind.
We did sharm as well, it was a bit undeveloped back then. The bus stop club, hard rock cafe were frequented as were the russian hotel dancers!

Personally i would try Jordan.

Petra is simply stunning – i would say it was the best day out i have ever had.
Aquaba on the Red Sea is Jordan's only beach resort but it is great, lots to do & you really should try the snorkelling on the reefs.

Jordan is (IMHO) nicer, cleaner & more pleasant than Egypt.

Aye, the tourist police are a bit odd – i had one point his bayonetted AK rifle at me in the gardens of the Egyptian Museum & swap my 'cowboy' hat for his beret! I had to chase his officer down and shout a bit before i got it back!

Imagine if your lad told you he was interested moon/space … you would be thinking Virgin space tour then.

How about British museum? I would. 😆

Brill bits –

Stayed in sharm – snorkled & dived
Took a river nile tour
Did pyramids by hot air balloon and saw the sun rise over them

Not so brill bits –

Didn't like the locals, felt at all times they were out to beg/ripoff/rob as much as they could from me.
Lots of gun totting security guards who overtly leered over the missus

We went there in Easter and it was the best.
Our kids are 10,11&13.
We went with The Adventure Company and had a great guide with us all the time which was dead-on for us non seasoned travelers.
We started with Cairo and the Pyramids then night train to Luxor then sail up the Nile to somewhere else then big drive over to Hurghada to snorkel in the Red sea.
The guide, Saif, knew loads about the ancient world as well as the modern Bazars and could recomend where to eat with little risk of getting ill.
Anything dodgy happened and he was there like a shot to sort it out.
The least enjoyable bit was the all inclusive stay in Hurghada – We don't like resorts, though.

Main Pyramid area just outside Cairo is a shit hole – graffiti on pyramids, rubbish everywhere, tourist car park and road next to Great pyramid – they built a Anglian windows conservatory visitor center bolted on to the great pyramid (not kidding, it's a total disgrace). Not been down South to Aswan – supposed to be much nicer.

Anglian Windows finest

Nice coach park next door

You have to use Photoshop to get the 'postcard' photo!

Cairo museum is quite good – can see solid gold face masks etc – unless they are on loan to another museum.

We do the museums in London when every were up there.
Egypt is as much for the wife as anything she's been on about it for as long as I've known her.

Expect diarrhoea.

I loved it out there. You only really need a couple of days in cairo. The museum is great. I liked the pyramids site, sprawling city on one side proper sandy desert on the other. I got there at sun-up, before the crowds, visited the pyramids then had an explore round the lesser tombs when people started arriving. Luxor is great for tombs and the like. Plenty to see there, again it can get busy so time your visits. For the beach there are lots of options. Hurghada is the nearest to Luxor but its a bit like Basingstoke by the sea. If you plan to stay in a big resort hotel then you won't notice. Sharm is nice enough, probably the closest to European Med resort. I liked Dahab, good mix of real Egypt, nice beach, good comfort. Snorkelling a diving is brilliant in the Red Sea, especially in Dahab.

I went to Egypt with expat parent when I was 12. Prob too young even then – nightlife is the interesting bit and 7 year old will be too shagged out to stay awake – no? Or would he be palmed off on the gran? Would probably enjoy it now, though.

Went to Sharm on a last minute cheap package a few years ago – what a dump (if you're not drinking heavily in a group and/or scuba diving). Would never go again – unless I was using cheap flights and then take a bus to Jordan/Israel/rump Egypt.

Want ruins and not to be overrun with bored broke conscripts and stuffed camel sellers? How about Tunisia, Libya, Iran? Not pyramids, admittedly but pretty cool. Istria (Croatia) has some cool Roman ruins…and even southern Italy and Sicily have some pretty amazing stuff that's not always mobbed.

I found Egypt to be a bit of a dump. We also had the experience of having Kalishnikovs pointed in our faces. Which is not in the least bit funny. The locals, as others have said, are a pain in the arse. Your wife may have to do a fair bit of shopping, as even in very touristy Sharm, a vest top will have the occasional local's eyes out on stalks.

Sharm is not somewhere I would ever choose to go again – all you can do is sit on the beach, the place looks like it was all built in the last 20 years or so etc. Food and drink costs about the same as it does here, and isn't particularly good.

The beaches are a huge distance from the pyramids – day tripping from one to the other isn't really practical.

Personally, I'd go somewhere in Europe. France, Croatia, Italy, Greece etc. Croatia's recent history is very interesting, and if you go to Dubrovnik you can still see a lot of it. Greece and Italy both obviously have massive remnants of their ancient civilisations. And of course, the French had 2 world wars fought there, a revolution, and Paris is full of incredible buildings.

Beyond that, there's the simple fact is that if something's worth having, a European country either made it, or nicked it. And in Europe, the police tend not to point guns at you without a very good reason, you don't spend half your time worrying about food poisoning, and the shopkeepers tend to leave you alone.

BTW, I should say that I'm not one of those people who'll only drink Watney's Red Barrel and objects to "that foreign muck", and I've had plenty of good/fun/interesting trips to hairy/unglamorous places that aren't particularly touristy and clean and safe and "family-friendly". But Egypt…wasn't one of them.

This thread makes me really not want to go there.

This thread makes me really not want to go there.

I'm quite surprised at the level of hate in this thread. I found it a really nice country and the locals were really welcoming and friendly if you actually speak to them.

If someone pointed a gun at my head, it'd ruin my whole holiday to be honest. Call me over-sensitive if you like.

The AK in the face was one thing.

The Englishwoman queueing to board the same flight as us, carrying a clear polythene bag, into which she was puking the previous night's ale, topped things off. 😯

I've been to Egypt and the pyramids and wouldn't go back – and that was with 5* treatment and no guns pointed at me.

If your boy's into pyramids I can recommend the Mayan ruins of the Yucatan and you could easily include a beach break in the Caribbean. Seems to be more of a child-friendly place though how you explain the non-Eygptian pyramids I don't know.

I didn't hate egypt at all, it's just not somewhere I'd return/pay to go (I was on R&R after this; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Bright_Star#Bright_Star_2000).
I would definately recommend croatia and in particluar Plitvice, which is the most beautiful place I've ever seen.

@nickjb: I wouldn't go there dragging a spouse, a sprog and a parent around. I wouldn't go to the Red Sea resorts unless I was diving. But I would go to Cairo etc again and would probably quite enjoy it.

Unfortunately a lot of the whinging here (including mine) is a result of the corrupt military regime that has controlled the country and its economy for 30 years now – hence large number of people in low-productivity activity (hawking tourist tat, being unemployed), a large + poorly trained + unaccountable military/police force (abusing their position, underpaid and lawless) and plenty of crappy, unsympathetic construction (soulless Red Sea resorts that owe more to Las Vegas than Luxor).

This is not a criticism of "the locals" most of whom were perfectly nice (especially considering at the time I was there "we" were just about to commence invading and bombing the shit out of another Arab military regime), if slightly annoying with the whole "hey, mister" business. (But I freely admit I'm a miserable sod who gets annoyed by Americans' chattiness so there you go).

And while IMO it's not a great place for a fambly holiday, it's a lot better being a tourist that leaves at the end of 14 nights than to be stuck in bread lines, kidnapped and killed by the cops, or sorting through rubbish to scrape an existence like some Egyptians have to.

Edit: and I am not trying to make you feel like you shouldn't have enjoyed your holiday. Different people like different things! 🙂

people were weird and very suspicious looking all the time

Bloody foreigners, eh? 🙄

Didn't like the locals, felt at all times they were out to beg/ripoff/rob as much as they could from me.

See it from their point of view; they live in a very poor country, most earn **** all, and the place is swamped by wealthy foreigners who'd spend more on a meal than they'd make in a week. Do the people there benefit much from the billions made by the tourist trade? What do you think? Can you blame them for trying to make their little bit?

Everyone I know who's been enjoyed it, and said what an amazing experience it was.

though how you explain the non-Eygptian pyramids I don't know.

Something along the lines of 'the Egyptians were not the only people to build pyramids, or any magnificent monuments for that matter'

Followed by some ancient history.

dont get me wrong I loved the place and have been back and will take my kids one days. It is very different from here that is all. Spectacular though and true local are friendly beyond words the arabs/muslims prode themselves on this ven todecadent infidels.
Get away from the tourist areas and the real Egyptians /people who dont make a living from tourists are superb ie Luxor the street nearest Nile is for tourists the one over for locals walk down the locals one and they just ignore you or ask if you are lost! Avid the markets as well if you dont want hassle.

See it from their point of view; they live in a very poor country, most earn **** all, and the place is swamped by wealthy foreigners who'd spend more on a meal than they'd make in a week. Do the people there benefit much from the billions made by the tourist trade? What do you think? Can you blame them for trying to make their little bit?

Not blaming them at all, saying it was not a highlight and probably one of the primary reason I wouldn't go back. That and the guns/leering.

I still had a good time overall and glad I experienced it.

I would second Mexico / Yucatan absolutely fanatastic holiday, much nicer all round. Top tip – stay at a hotel at chichen itza and go to the site early morning before the heat/coaches of tourists arrive

I lived in Cairo for 3 years when I was a nipper and its some of my best memories. Horse back ride from Giza to Saqqara? Camping out in the desert with the lights of the son et lumier in the background? Sailing on the nile in a felucca? school trip to the citadel and mosque? the bazaar at night?

Oh yes and stink, the dead animals in the street, dead animals in the river, people living on scavenging rubbish, total traffic chaos, and my first memory getting off the plane to be confronted by armed soldiers (actually Heathrow is pretty similar nowadays), getting the shits.

I went back there for work a few years ago and not much had changed.

Cairo is too far from the beach for a day trip, stay for a few days at least.

Go if you want to. If you are prepared for the shitty stuff and have enough money to hide yourself away from it in a nice hotel then you will be fine.

One thing that is a fact, apart from the tourist pushers, Egyptians are really friendly and go nuts over children.

The only thing that would worry me with small kids would be the heat. Go when its not too hot. It can easily be 10C higher in Cairo than the coast.

I've been a couple of times – Hurghada & Ras Sudr for the windsurfing.

My main impression was that Egyptians are, on the whole, the most charming people I've ever met.

oh yes if you think its shitty in in Egypt, don't EVER go to India

Mrs R and I have been to Egypt about a dozen times. Obviously we like it or we wouldn't have gone back. Luxor and Aswan have some fascinating antiquities – Karnak if you can get there at a quiet time is stunning, valley of the kings is amazing once you get over the fact that the bits above ground look like a missile bunker complex, nothing quite like a drink in the old Cataract hotel in Aswan overlooking the Nile cataracts, some of the best snorkling and diving in the world in the red sea etc etc. The locals are generally very friendly in our experience. We've also had the armed police/army experience, had earthquakes, been stranded in a broken down bus in the desert and flown in the shakiest 737 I've ever seen from Aswan to Abu Simbel – the pilot got a round of applause when we landed. This is all part of what makes holidays interesting. But I wouldn't rate it as a place to take children – they'll be hot and bored most of the time, or they'll play in a pool or the sea and get sunburnt in which case you might as well have gone to Brighton and avoided the sunburn.

I did the Nile cruise thing with the wife last year, we had a couple of nights in Cairo, (its worth going there to see the traffic and the way they drive), then flew to Luxor and did the Nile cruise thing for a week (up to Aswan and back) finished off with a night here:-
Can't say I'd recommend that long a trip for kids, even in November the Valley of The Kings was in the mid 40's and once you've seen the first half dozen temples the novelty begins to wear off.
(We're only just in our 50's and we were the youngest on the boat).

I lived there for two years about 15 years back (now I feel old…), fun place, very hectic, the locals are very friendly once you've got past the haggling bit.

Not sure I'd want to take small children, they might find it all a bit too much – the pyramids would be OK, but the rest of Cairo is like a smelly version of Oxford Street just before Christmas…

You will get the runs.

India must surely have a lot more to offer than Egypt, surely?